Sebelius: Health care launch 'terribly flawed' 13 April 2014, by Philip Elliott October after the flawed launch of the health care reform law which is Obama's signature domestic policy achievement. They have tried to make "Obamacare" the key issue in November's national election when control of Congress will be at stake. Sebelius acknowledged the rocky rollout for the online sign-up system fraught with technical problems that left Americans frustrated. "Clearly, the estimate that it was ready to go Oct. 1 was just flat out wrong," Sebelius said. HealthCare.gov was envisioned as the principal President Barack Obama hugs outgoing Health and place for people to buy insurance from private Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as he companies— made more affordable by government stands with Vice President Joe Biden and his nominee to subsidies —under Obama's health care law. But its be her replacement, Budget Director Sylvia Mathews first few weeks were an embarrassment for the Burwell, Friday, April 11, 2014, in the Rose Garden f the administration and its allies, resulting in a drop in White House in Washington. The moves come just over the polls for Democrats and a revival of Republican a week after sign-ups closed for the first year of prospects in the 2014 election even though the insurance coverage under the so-called Obamacare party was blamed for last year's unpopular partial law.(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) government shutdown. "Well, I think there's no question—and I've said this The Obama administration's timeline for having many times—that the launch of the website was ready the new health care law's online sign-up terribly flawed and terribly difficult," Sebelius said. system "was just flat out wrong," outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Obama set a Dec. 1 deadline to have the website said in an interview that aired Sunday. repaired, a move that left Sebelius nervous, she said. The departing health chief also said the two months when the federal healthcare.gov website "Having failed once at the front of October, the first was plagued with technical problems were "a of December became a critical juncture," she said. pretty dismal time" and the low point of her five- "That was a pretty scary date." year tenure. But she defended the law's impact and said millions of Americans now have access to Sebelius' resignation comes just a week after sign- health care because of it. ups for insurance coverage on federal and state exchanges ended, enrolling 7.1 million people and "People have competitive choices and real exceeding initial expectations. Enrollment has since information for the first time ever in this insurance increased to 7.5 million as people were given extra market," said Sebelius, who last week announced time to complete applications. her resignation. The departing secretary said she decided after the Republicans demanded that Sebelius resign last 2012 presidential election that she wanted to leave the administration but decided to stay through the 1 / 2 initial sign-up period for the new health care program. Sebelius said Obama did not try to convince her to stay through the end of his term. "I thought it was fair to either commit till January of 2017 or leave with enough time that he would get a strong, competent leader," Sebelius said. Obama has nominated White House budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell to replace Sebelius. Sebelius spoke to NBC television's "Meet the Press." © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. APA citation: Sebelius: Health care launch 'terribly flawed' (2014, April 13) retrieved 4 October 2021 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-sebelius-health-terribly-flawed.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. 2 / 2 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org).